A Few Camping Tips for Young Families

Camping with young children may seem overwhelming, so I thought that I would share some tips to help make things easier.

1. Practice camping at home.
Personally, we practiced camping at home before our trip.  Our children became acclimated with the sleeping bags and tents. 

2. Look into a good hiking backpack.
Hiking backpacks are a lifesaver.  Personally, my husband and I traded turns to make it easier on each of us. A nice feature that we appreciated was that the hiking backpack had a stand so that it was also easy to use as a chair while our son ate lunch with us.

3. S'mores with Stuffed Puffs are a game changer.
When I was working on this post, I came to the conclusion that telling you about trendy Stuffed Puffs marshmallows that are filled with real chocolate is the best tip that you may not have known.  It's genius! Seriously, why didn't someone invent these sooner --- the chocolate is already tucked into the marshmallows.  When you have little kids, this is a low mess solution to making S'mores with them!  

Personally, I don't know how or why my children used to always get melted chocolate on their faces, hands, and clothing when we attempt to make S'mores.  I guess that they just can't resist touching the chocolate bars to see how close they are to being melted throughout the process.  The Stuffed Puffs are perfect because they made it easy for them to make S'mores without as much of a mess. We tried them out and our S'mores were perfect. Even better, Stuffed Puffs are reasonably priced at $3.99 and are available at WalMart stores across the country for the summer season. Stock up while they last!

4. Rent a cabin and/or bring a Pack N Play.
Instead of sleeping in a tent, we rented a cabin on one of our trips.  This made it easier for us, especially since it already had a crib. If you are not renting a cabin that already has a crib, we found that a Pack N Play was extremely valuable for our youngest and fit into our tent on another trip. He didn't even seem to mind that it wasn't as cozy as his regular crib. He was just happy to be on vacation and quickly fell asleep at night because we tired him out throughout the day!

5. Pack food that your children love.
Good food makes everyone happy!  My children let us know when they are hangry.  We brought the supplies for S'mores that I mentioned above so that they had a snack to look forward too.  It was as simple as packing the Stuffed Puffs and graham crackers!

6. Get your car ready.
Make sure that your car is ready to survive a long trip by having it inspected and completing any maintenance before your trip.  If you have a car that you are thinking of getting rid of and buying a new one, consider selling your old car for cash.

We hope that these tips help you to enjoy your next family camping trip!  As you will notice, our tips really focus on containing our youngest child to keep him safe and to make sure that we have an awesome snack to make them happy -- the S'mores using Stuffed Puffs!